Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristy
I'm curious about your decision to buy a prefab cottage.
•Will you go that route if you do decide you want more?
•What was the rationale for not building from scratch or say a garage kit?
•Would you build a new home for yourself and abandon your current home to renters as sort of a practice run?
•Is that really all the firewood you need for an entire winter in your small space, or is that a job for fall?
The prefab route was the result of a long process of eliminating other options. I didn't have a lot of cash on hand, and they let me pay with a credit card. That was a factor.
I looked at campers and trailers, but nothing felt right. I was considering installing a wood stove in a pull-behind trailer for a while. I also looked at mobile homes that parks were trying to get rid of - either to move it, or before I pulled the trigger on the land, to consider renovating it in trade for a free home.
I went to look at one mobile home a fairly nice park wanted to give away. My brother and I pulled up around 11 a.m., and while we were there three couples came to look at it also. It was a ****hole. I knew it was beyond my construction abilities immediately (all three couples, the dude was a carpenter). Also, so sad, probably the result of the region's nasty opiods epidemic. A kid's birthday cake, half eaten, empty Jack Daniels bottles in the bathroom. ****ing criminal to have a child in that environment.
In the end, I realized buying a cabin was the one thing I probably wouldn't be looking to have hauled off, eventually. It was a bigger expense, but I'm happy I went that route. I'm not sure if that answers your question or I took a left turn, but that was some of the thought process.
And yeah, I've definitely looked into Air BnB'ing it or something. In the right season, there are similar setups (typically they have an outhouse) getting $50/night. This place is an awesome tourist destination in the summer.
I want to build the artists' cabins I mentioned earlier. You know all those UPS trucks? I suspect it would be easy, given their shape and ubiquitous nature, to turn them into cabins. I'd like to try and do that as a proof of concept. There must be tons sitting around in junkyards.